124 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ J UNE* 
provided tlieir form is perfect and their position good. No wall fruit should ever 
be left crushing under or against a branch, as the compression will ruin its 
appearance for table. The second thinnings of such stone-fruits as Apricots, 
Peaches, and Plums are generally preserved for tarts or jams, and sometimes the 
last thinnings also. The operation should be completed on Apples and Pearsv 
before their fruit are of any value. 
Other fruit, higher or lower than either of these, might be thinned withx 
great advantage. Numbers might grow G-rapes out-of-doors almost equal to hot¬ 
house ones, if they would but take the same troubler in thinning bunch and berry to 
the same extent. Descending lower, the thinning of Currants and Easpberries is 
tedious work, but it improves the size amazingly, and Strawberries swell into 
marvellous mouthfuls of lusciousness if only three or four fruit are kept on a 
stem. A sharp pair of scissors in nimble hands will make quick work of thinning 
a row of strawberries in bloom. To grow monstrous Gooseberries, again, thinning 
is indispensable, and the thinnings here can be converted into puddings on the 
instant. 
As to the extent of thinning, no rule of general application can be laid down; 
it depends upon so many considerations, such as the strength of the tree, the 
quality of the soil, the objects of the growe'r, &c. The following general rules 
may, however, be useful. In all such cases as this, it is better to give flexible rules, 
than unyielding figures. I am not aware that I ever saw a perfectly satisfactory 
fruit crop measured off by rule or line. If I laid down a hard-and-fast line for 
Peaches, for instance, of six, nine, twelve, or eighteen inches apart, not a single 
reader could adhere to it exactly. One great hindrance to the efficient thinning 
of fruit is a mistaken notion that numbers mean weight, and that a full crop 
cannot be had without great numbers. But if three peaches weigh as much as 
nine, where is the gain in having the nine ? There is no gain, but great loss, in 
the undue increase of numbers. Peel carefully and cut out the stones from both lots, 
and weigh the amount of peach in each, and 3^11 will be astonished at the difference 
of peach-weight in favour of the lesser number. It is the same with all fruits. He 
that grows small fruit grows trash; it is rind, it is stone, it is seed,—anything, every¬ 
thing, but good, sound flesh or pulp. He who grows large fruit has a maximum 
of good grain, with a minimum of such worthless chaff as seeds, rind, and stones. 
Further, full average size is favourable to quality; though there are many 
exceptions to this rule. Small fruits are often like sweetmeats ; in fact, they 
are unnaturally, unpleasantly sweet at times, especially if their diminutive size 
is associated with defoimity. Still, the above rule holds good ; notwithstanding 
the exceptions, size and quality mostly are found together. Note, I do not write 
that mere size nor large size is proof of quality, but average size is mostly 
associated with it. Finally, fine fruit are much more easily gathered and stored, 
and more pleasing to the eye than small fruit. Surely, more need not be added in 
avour of prompt, vigorous, and thorough thinning. No one, I think, will deny 
